Shortly after OpenAI announced that it had opened up artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT to app integrations, one of which included portal giant Zillow, some leaders in the real estate industry began waving red flags.
As the biggest gatekeepers to property listings data in the country, multiple listing services (MLSs) have been swept up in Zillow’s move — one which some see as a violation of MLS data licensing terms.
In an article penned by WAVGroup co-founder Victor Lund on Tuesday, Lund wrote, “Beneath the slick experience sits a serious problem. Zillow didn’t ask permission from the MLSs or brokers who own that data before transmitting it into OpenAI’s ChatGPT environment.”
Victor Lund
Zillow’s agreement with MLSs, via IDX licenses, allows the company to publish MLS data on Zillow.com and its mobile apps, Lund wrote. However, he argued, those licenses do not allow for Zillow to publish or share that data on other domains.
“ChatGPT is not a Zillow property,” Lund wrote. “It is a separate, third-party platform operated by OpenAI, which holds no data license with any MLS. When Zillow connected its MCP server to OpenAI’s SDK, it effectively republished MLS listings in an environment that no broker, MLS, or participant controls.”
A release from WAVGroup emailed out to the media said the National Association of Realtors’ Handbook on Multiple Listing Policy clearly states that IDX listings must be displayed “under the actual and apparent control of the licensed participant” and only on authorized domains. The handbook also stipulates that participants may not redistribute MLS data to any person or entity not authorized by the MLS.
NAR declined to comment or provide additional context for this story.
Lund added that the move by Zillow was “a breach of both the spirit and the letter of cooperation” between Zillow and MLSs.
Meanwhile, Zillow characterized the integration with ChatGPT as an innovation that will move the industry forward, and suggested that the move was done with industry rules at the forefront.
“Zillow is leading the next great evolution in real estate search as the only real estate app in ChatGPT, a platform used each week by more than 800 million people worldwide,” a Zillow spokesperson said in a statement sent to Inman. “We always work to ensure industry rules and guardrails are in place and, in this case, we were able to also represent industry interests as part of OpenAI innovation. This partnership expands listing visibility, drives consumers back to agents, and showcases responsible innovation that grows opportunity across the industry.”
The company also pointed Inman to a FAQ page it published about the integration, which asserts, “Zillow worked directly with OpenAI to ensure this experience was built with the industry’s rules and safeguards at its core. Zillow has 100 percent control over the app experience, which protects MLS data and maintains IDX compliance.”
Zillow also maintained on the FAQ page that it is in complete control of the display within ChatGPT, and that it is not sending MLS data to OpenAI. Rather, when a ChatGPT user asks for Zillow-related data, OpenAI sends a request to Zillow for information relevant to the user’s prompt, Zillow said. Zillow then sends a response “that is displayed in the Zillow App, but that data does not go to ChatGPT for ChatGPT to display to the user.” Zillow also says it worked with OpenAI to restrict use of any Zillow App data for AI training or reuse.
In his post, Lund further urged MLS executives to take action now to protect listings data, as AI technology continues to evolve, by enforcing domain control, requiring AI-specific data licenses, auditing outbound data feeds and supporting brokers in building their own AI integrations.
When he spoke with Inman on the phone on Thursday, Lund said, “If you’re putting Zillow on OpenAI, you’re putting Zillow on a platform, which is not under the control of Zillow. That’s my simplest observation … Zillow says, ‘Oh, don’t worry. We’re doing this safely and carefully. The data’s not being exposed to any third party.’ And I’m like, well, it kind of is, in my opinion.”
“You want to know what’s really funny is, if you take the handbook on the MLS policy and you load it into ChatGPT and you ask if what Zillow is doing is permissible, it says ‘no,'” Lund added.
Danny Frank | HAR.com
Danny Frank, a Texas Realtor and past chairman of the board at the Houston Association of Realtors (HAR), after seeing Lund’s post, also penned a letter to HAR’s current board, flagging Lund’s points and urging the board to take action.
Frank suggested the board investigate whether data from HAR and the Houston Realtors Information Service (HRIS), the association’s MLS, was included in the Zillow/ChatGPT integration; suspend or restrict Zillow’s MLS data feed until compliance could be verified; collaborate with other Texas MLSs to create AI governance standards; and develop an “AI Data-Use Addendum” specifying how MLS data may or may not be used with AI systems, software development kits (SDKs) or external application programming interfaces (APIs).
“They’re just being very aggressive, in my opinion, about using AI and the MLS data without broker cooperation,” Frank told Inman on a phone call. “They’re just using it without any permission.”
“[Zillow] is an aggressive competitor,” Frank continued. “I know Errol [Samuelson] well … and I have nothing against Zillow or [him], but, I think what they’ve done is overstep the boundary a little bit here. Going back to Happy Days, they jumped the shark. I think they got out in front of this way too far. I think they’re using the data without permission, which we can’t do, and it’s not their data to use.”
Several MLSs that Inman reached out to for this story, including NWMLS, Georgia MLS, Bright MLS, and HAR and HRIS, declined to comment or did not respond to Inman’s request. However, sources involved told Inman that Zillow did a demo with MLSs in advance of announcing the partnership with OpenAI, which suggests they knew about it in advance.
Following Zillow’s announcement about the partnership, Inman was alerted to rumors that some MLSs may have reached out to the portal with concerns or demands to terminate the relationship with OpenAI. However, no MLSs confirmed that any such communication took place, and some said in off-the-record conversations that they had not sent cease and desist letters to Zillow.
Stellar MLS, which is the largest MLS in Florida and Puerto Rico, told Inman they were in the process of determining whether any license agreements were violated through Zillow’s new integration with ChatGPT.
“Protecting the security, accuracy, and integrity of MLS data is a priority for Stellar MLS,” CEO Merri Jo Cowen said in an emailed statement. “We are committed to ensuring that brokers, agents, and partners can trust that their data is handled responsibly, securely, and in compliance with all agreements and industry standards.
“We are currently working with legal counsel to determine if there is a violation of our license agreement. Once a determination has been made, we will take appropriate action if needed,” Cowen added.
Agents responded to the news on social media in varying ways, with some saying this was another move to “eliminate agents,” as Vd Thompson posted in the Facebook group Real Estate Mastermind.
In response to Thompson’s post, Andrew Gomez commented, “Honestly this is a bit scary. Who knows what Zillow and Open AI are going to do.”
Still others responded with a more open mind and seemed responsive to the idea of using the tool to their advantage. “Honestly, every time a new tech tool shows up, people start panicking: but I see it as leverage, not competition,” Tim David replied to Thompson’s post. “If Zillow’s using ChatGPT, we should too, automate the busy work, write sharper listings, and spend more time actually building relationships. Tech can’t replace trust, and that’s still where we win as agents.”
This week, other portals also announced new AI features. Homes.com launched an AI-driven “Smart Search,” which allows users to search for homes using natural language instead of specific filters. Likewise, Realtor.com launched a similar function — an AI-powered search feature that can understand natural language and interpret questions.
The future is here — and it’s powered by AI. October is Artificial Intelligence Month at Inman. We’ll dive into how agents, brokerages and startups are harnessing AI to reimagine real estate, and we’ll honor the trailblazers leading the way with Inman AI Awards.
